Finding jobs in Sweden: The Master Guide Part 1

Guess how many people who speak English are interested in finding jobs in Sweden?

Google says 5,400 people per month search for that exact term — “Finding jobs in Sweden.”

So you’ve had it with your country! You’re sick and tired of two weeks of vacation or think the population is too obese. Or maybe you’ve fallen in love with a beautiful Swedish woman who’s promising you that you can easily find a job in Sweden. Or maybe you’re fleeing war or poverty. Or maybe you’re stuck living in Sweden and can’t find a job.

Or maybe you love Abba? Or maybe you love fish? Maybe you like Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy? I can go on and on, but won’t.

For those of you hoping on finding work in Sweden, you need to know it can be a jungle out there, but you can do it.

Attitude is the key.

Here are a few tips.

Job sites to help in finding jobs in Sweden

1. A direct link to the Public employment service’s website. Don’t fear, this is in Swedish, but there’s a window on the site that says “Platsbanken”. Throw your search word in there, in English, it’s ok, and you’ll be on your way. I usually start off with searching for “native English” or “English” in most of my job searches.

2. The Local, an English news website covering Sweden, has a pretty good job board to help you find a job in Sweden.

3. Jobbsafari is another Swedish language site for finding work in the country, but I think it’s worth checking out.

On the top of the page you’ll see “Söka jobb”, that’s where you put in your search term. Then the window on your right you can choose to search in “Hela Sverige”, which means all of Sweden, or choose a particular county — län means county.

I just threw in “Native English” and “Stockholm County” in the search bar and found hundreds of hits.

4. Indeed is another good site in Swedish…you can do it in Swedish, no worries. The box for “Vad” means what, put in your search term there, and the box for “Var” means where.

6. Now if you can’t figure out how to find a job in Sweden, try to find a rich Swede to partner with. That way he or she can take care of you and you can hang out around town, look at the pretty people, listen to Swedish pop music, eat lots of fish and go cold bathing.

Thanks for the great blog. I have a question (and you have just been elected the expert on Sweden). I have a European passport, but my wife does not. Will it be a problem for us to move to Sweden? We’ve been married for a number of years.

For others interested, if you are wanting to join someone living in Sweden with whom you have a life-relationship, there is a process of applications and interviews, the successful outcome of which will grant you a residence permit.

Gabe’s link leads you to a slightly more general page should the above link not be quite what you are looking for.

Hej Gabe,
Thank you for posting. I am 47 and an undergraduate student and nearly finished. I am looking to start my masters Fall ’18 in clinical counseling. I have looked into masters programs in Sweden because I feel a strong connection to the country as well as being of Swedish/Norwegian ancestry. So, my question…How do I get there in my line of work. I am assuming Sweden has counselors/therapist, perhaps you call them something else? Anyhoo, any suggestions?